VESTA: BURY TRANSPORT MUSEUM
On January 24, Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T No. 1223 Vesta arrived on the East Lancashire Railway, where it was promptly shunted into the Bury Transport Museum.
Built in 1916, the locomotive was operational at the Shotton Steelworks in NorthWales for its working life before being preserved by the Industrial Locomotive Society. It was then gifted to the NationalTrust and, after being displayed at Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire, was put on display at the castle’s museum.
It will be on an initial three-year loan to the ELR, after which full ownership will transfer to the railway, thus giving the line two 0-6-0Ts from this builder, with operational 1903-built No. 32 residing there and brought into steam in order to shunt the new arrival into the museum. Although both were built by the same firm, there are obvious being lower in height with deeper bufferbeams compared to its older worksmate.
